European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 16, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday october 16. 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13 . Rosentha everyone turns a Blind Eye to death Trade please consider the following two sets of facts. Then answer a few questions about them. First set. 1. Peacetime inspections by the . Atomic Agency failed to spot iraqi president Saddam Hussein a widespread nuclear weapons program. 2. The documents seized from Iraq last week show not Only that the program was far stronger and More widespread than believed but that it was made possible by technology and supplies from a dozen or More countries All with representatives in the Agency. Therefore the Agency a inspectors either did not know what companies in their  were shipping to Iraq or were working under rules that prevented them from poking around too much a or both. Paul l. Leventhal president of the valuable nuclear control Institute of Washington Points to what the Agency the death merchants and the iraqis All knew to be a huge inspection loophole. Agency teams came around twice a year to look at bomb Grade fuel that could be converted to weapons in two to three weeks. 3. The United states has those nuclear papers already. It also has files full of information showing that hundreds of Western and asian companies a hundreds a shipped to Iraq chemicals and equipment that could be and were used to produce missiles and chemical and germ warfare weapons. 4. So Congress is considering several Bills that allow for the Only effective action against companies still peddling mass death. That is to make their names Public and then bar them from the . Export and import markets. At the International atomic Energy Agency in Vienna Austria proposals have been presented to make the inspection system somewhat More reliable. Second set. I. The proposals for putting muscle into the Agency inspection system through such things As snap visits have been shelved until at least february. They do not have much Chance for acceptance. 2. In Washington the administration fights hard to defeat the Bills for sanctions against death merchants. President Bush threatens to veto them. The administration is divided about even releasing the names of the companies in the Baghdad papers. Now the first question. What is going on Here Well at the atomic Agency there is a Little business problem. The Gap Between Legal peaceful use of nuclear materials and being Able to convert them into weapons is narrow. Enforcing real inspection rules might slow Legal nuclear Commerce perhaps reducing profit somewhat. The Bush administration is blocking the Bills in Congress because it says Here they would interfere with the presidents executive Powers. But since he already has that Power and does not use it that argument seems strange. Members of Congress say the lobbyists from the administration and Industry Are simply unhappy at the idea of using restrictions on Trade even the death Trade. Also the full Public exposure that such a Bill would bring might make something sink into the american Public head. The chinese communists Are running their own private supermarket in the nuclear chemical and missile businesses. Their customers include Algeria Pakistan India Argentina Brazil South Africa Syria of course and others that walk up and Down the aisles in the face masks of camouflage trading. The Public might then ask the president who overlooks gulags and convict labor to give China the Best available Tariff privileges Why he cannot persuade his friends in Beijing to close the death shop a at least on sundays. Democrats. Why Arentt their congressional a a leaders grabbing the moral and political Opportunity staring right at them Why Aren t they pulling together the various Bills so Long and so deliberately tangled and stalled to get through one comprehensive act against the death Trade and now How about democratic presidential candidates declared or possible Strain an ear a nothing. Of it is a Fine Choice we will be offered in 1992, Between a candidate who will not take action against the death Trade and some fellow who does no to know it exists. And come to think of it there a the whole country knowing now How close Iraq came to the bomb knowing now that the death Trade goes on and on a Why Isnit it screaming Quot in pain and anger for action and if not now when c Trio now York Timos Andrew j. Glass beware Media lawmakers gunning for you the old cry of pain is heard again a who elected you a standing in the Halls of Power they mutter to each other a what gives them the right to sit in judgment a these jibes Are aimed at my business the news business. Nice people both inside and outside my business often Label what we do As a profession. But any profession needs a License like the ones sought by those who make their living fixing hair or burying the dead. By contrast there have never been any True entry standards to get a Media Job a or for that matter to lose one. Some of our Best journalists have studied the Craft at Fine schools of journalism. But others who have never even come near such a place also seem to do All right. Whatever you Call it the politicians Are up in arms against it. Some do not like it that a leak to the Media put a hold on the drive to seat judge Clarence Thomas on the supreme court a just when his Rise appeared to be a sure thing. Had the judge aced his hearings this might not have happened. But such nuances tend to get lost. Some do not like it that the Media made a big Deal of bounced checks at the House Bank forcing it to shut it Down. It was not a Bank. Members Drew funds against their next paycheck making Loans covered by other members funds. But such nuances tend to get lost this feud will no doubt Rise to new Heights in the yeast of the new political season. Reformers have let party machines rust. Bosses Are Long since gone. Health warnings hang in rooms once filled with smoke. So we in the Media take it upon ourselves to screen the candidates. And what do you know that makes some losers mad. The 1992 crop appears to be in for an extra hard time. A Bull is out View seems to be sweeping the press corps. Newsweek just made that idea into a cover Story editors talk about rating the truth level of political ads in much the same Way As movie reviewers rate films. Already Media types itch to hop on planes to new Hampshire to get into the game. Soon you can be sure yellow flags will Start to drop All Over the place. But what Are the rules for this blood sport and who runs a school for the umpires a War Between the sexes swirls around the i Homas Case. At the same time another War. If a less evident one is being waged within the Media Itsell. Some of us would like nothing better then to be left in a Wicker Chest in a Corner of the Oval Ottliee. I Here unseen we can hear what goes on. I Ruth be told we do not care much one Way or another How it All comes out. We merely want to be Able to Tell other people what really took place. Others see themselves As players in the game. I hey go on camera each week As supposed equals to new makers. They see nothing wrong in cursing to his lace a senator whom they will have to cover the next Day. But such acts do Bear a Price. Part of the Price was paid the other Day on the Senate floor when Alan k. Simpson r-wyo., took the floor. A the judges Are accountable a a he noted. A we re accountable. The president is accountable. But there a one Branch of society that is not accountable and that a the fourth , the  after Congress shuts Down for the year Simpson plans to Hole up at his ranch to write a Nasty Book about the National press corps. Given the ugly mood in these parts its Likely to sell quite Well. C Cox now service